Gold gained $1.20 or 0.07% in New York and closed at $1,642.00/oz on Friday. Gold initially traded sideways in Asia and then took a dip downward to $1,631.37. A slight bounce now shows gold near $1,632.69 in European trading. Gold fell 1% last week and a stronger dollar has weakened the demand for gold as an alternative investment.The dollar gained strength against the euro as France’s Presidential elections have seen Sarkozy with only 27.1% of the vote behind Hollande’s 28.6% and Le Pen’s surprise 18.1%. Many people see the election as another disruption into a solution to the euro zone crisis. There is also the fear of a dangerous break of the Franco-German alliance if Sarkozy is ousted by a socialist.

The IMF meeting ended yesterday and leading world economies agreed to more than double the lending power of the IMF in an effort to protect the global economy from the euro zone contagion. This was still short of Lagarde’s $600 billion goal.

The Netherlands was drawn into the spotlight over the weekend when the government failed to agree on budget cuts, making elections nearly unavoidable and casting doubt on its support from future euro zone aid.

Investors will watch the China HSBC manufacturing survey at 1430 GMT as a measure of the conditions of the world’s 2nd largest economy.The Federal Reserve meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, and its statement on monetary policy is given on April 25th. The Bank of Japan meets on Friday and is expected to ease again.

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